• Age: 11 to 13
• Grade: 6 to 8

Elaine M. Will's four-part adaptation of Andreas Schroeder's 1986 novel Dustship Glory tells the story of Damanus 'Tom' Sukanen, a Finnish immigrant farmer who responded to the economic slump and drought conditions that laid waste to the Canadian prairies in the 1930s by building a full-sized ship in his farmyard, hundreds of miles from the sea. The first part of this four-part graphic novel, Dust-Ship Glory, is now available. Will is the Xeric Award-winning Canadian author and cartoonist behind the critically acclaimed mental health drama graphic novel, Look Straight Ahead.

Elaine M. Will has helped increase the profile of self-published Saskatchewan comic artists and graphic novel authors with her work on the Xeric Award-winning mental health drama and graphic novel, Look Straight Ahead. Her second book, Dust Ship Glory, reveals this quirky tale of one man's obsessions during the 1930s in Saskatchewan.

Elaine M. Will's profile page

"Will's stark black and white, pen and ink illustrations capture both the bleakness of the Saskatchewan landscape and personalities of the characters readers meet in the story." Recommended. - Canadian Materials

"[A] compelling character study delivered by a supremely confident storyteller." - Broken Frontier

"Will displays here the same mastery of comic storytelling that she showed us in Look Straight Ahead. Although it's a very different type of story, it's one that she tells expertly. Well worth picking up for her storytelling abilities, and you'll almost certainly learn a thing or two that you should have been, but weren't, taught in school as well. - Kleefeld on Comics

"Clean and clear black and white graphics tell the tale of Tom building his ship while flashback sequences are wonderfully shaded with multi-toned ink wash." - First Comics News

"The allegorical aspects of Will's comic are universal, even as it's tough to comprehend the horrors of the Depression and the drought in the Midwest (of both Canada and the United States). Dust-Ship Glory is a fascinating book, because Will doesn't overdo the messages in it, just allows us to come to them slowly and organically. Give it a look!" - Atomic Junkshop

"It goes to show that anything is possible, even building an ocean-going steamship in the middle of the parched prairies. Perhaps there's hope yet for the dreamers." - Rocky Mountain Outlook